Here is how I would handle a similar situation if I felt it necessitated more than simply minding my own business.

1) Talk directly to the assistant principal and find out what her disagreement with me is. Try to come to a win-win situation; a solution where we both get some benefit and can grow. This would initially start out as face-to-face, and then move to email if necessary.

2) If that fails, addressing the situation to the principal would be the next step. I would simply ask to have a meeting with both of them. Printed copies of the email exchange could be brought to the meeting as backup.

3) If that fails, then you move up the administrative hierarchy with similar steps.

The problem here is that these steps (except for the initial one of actually talking to the offender) seem pretty unnecessary for someone who actually intends to teach at some later date in their life. There comes a point where it’s necessary to burn bridges, but I don’t think that should be anything short of a last step. And since resignation and relocation was clearly an option, there is little prudence in escalating the situation any further.

At least, that’s how I see it. Anyone else?

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I hear stories such as hers (although that is probably the most extreme I’ve ever encountered) and fear ever moving to another school. How can you know in just an interview if the school management is in place? I can’t ask a principal to his face “Do you back up your teachers? Does your school enforce discipline?” Of course I’m not going to get the real answer! I am new to the teaching gig; maybe there’s a way you could ask these things or get the real answer you need. But as for now, I just pray that’s never me. I admire her fortitude and self-evaluation.

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Actually, I suppose I have four preps now, since I teach two sections of journalism (beginning and advanced) in the same period, as well as a remedial course for upperclassmen and my “main” prep of “regular” 9th-grade English. However, because I love teaching journalism so much–and because the advanced students work closely with the beginning students, which sort of multiplies my power to shape learning–it doesn’t seem onerous.
This goes back to my thinking that a teacher’s approach or attitude to a situation can make a huge difference–though sympathetic administrators don’t hurt, either!
(John’s observation about teaching music–”there’s significantly less paperwork to grade, and a rehearsal gives a platform for teaching that is much more flexible than the standard lesson plan requires”–applies to journalism as well.)

By the way, I Tweeted this post (http://twitter.com/MWeller77), but it says on the blog that there are no tweetbacks. Did I do it wrong? I’m sort of Web 1.5 in some areas. :)

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Joel can wear his 8 preps with pride, I’ve witnessed the experience of music teachers stuck with a different ensemble course every period. It can be a bit harrowing, but it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that there are a few things that are more forgiving about music education. Most importantly, there’s significantly less paperwork to grade, and a rehearsal gives a platform for teaching that is much more flexible than the standard lesson plan requires. There’s increased work though, landing venues for concerts, planning festivals, arranging numerous field trips- and splitting your work between schools in a district. I work with a teacher who mumbles a litany when asked where he’s off to next: “I teach 7 sections of 6 classes in 5 classrooms. I have 4 bosses at 3 schools, and I commute 2 hours a day for 1 job.”

Back to the point: I couldn’t imagine trying to handle an increased workload with administrators who are “child advocates” to the point where they strip all classroom discipline and control away from the teacher. It’s a miracle that this person is still teaching.

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In my current assignment, I only have four, with two of them being woodwinds and brass in the same band. So really, I have three: Concert band winds, percussion, and beginner band. When I was at the 6th grade, I actually had 6 since all of the beginning classes learn and progress at a different pace.

For a while last year, I actually was singlehandedly teaching 8 classes in 7 periods. That got to be a bit of a challenge to say the least.

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I read her “one prep at the interview, five preps in real life” detail with a shudder! Five preps really is daunting, no matter how experienced or talented you are. Early in my career, I was saddled with an unfair number of preps one year–more than either of my grade-level colleagues in English–and my classes were also mostly composed of the lowest-performing students in the grade. I was lucky enough in those days to have a wonderful mentor, Bob, a retired veteran teacher who was working as a coach for the county office of education. I griped to Bob about my situation, which I had concluded was the greatest injustice of the century, and he made a comment that has stuck with me: that difficult assignments sharpen your skills, and that I would learn a ton from the experience. That changed my perspective on my course schedule, and perhaps not coincidentally, the work I did with my 3rd/4th period block–the writing they did with me, especially–was probably the best work I did as a middle school teacher.

Interview surprises can also be a wonderful blessing in disguise. I had to move from Los Angeles to San Diego several years ago, and I interviewed for an English position at a middle school. In the middle of the interview, the principal (with whom I’d spoken for about an hour on the phone before the interview) suddenly remembered my predecessor taught Yearbook, and would I like to teach Yearbook? Though I was thinking, “God no!” I smiled and said yes, I love learning new things. It was difficult, but I loved teaching Yearbook, and now I teach Journalism, which I love even more. I might never have discovered the joy of advising student publications if that principal hadn’t ambushed me!

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